ARTIFACTS

HMS "Kent" Artifact - A mounted piece of the shell shattered rigging of the HMS "Kent" presented to the Association of the Men of Kent by sub lt. AA Porter, Dec. 8 1920. In November of 1914 the far eastern squadron of the German fleet under the command of Admiral von Spee consisted of two heavy and three light cruisers. It crossed the Pacific to the Chilean coast hoping to round the Cape Horn and reach their German home port. They successfully achieved the rounding of the Cape and planned to run into Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands to raid the British coaling station. Once there, however, the Germans encountered the battle cruisers "Invincible" and "Inflexible" and the armored cruiser "Kent."

They took up the pursuit of von Spee's squadron. In this action the "Kent" engaged in a, "...ferocious gunnery duel with the German light cruiser 'Nurnburg'..." which it sank. The battle of the Falklands has been described "as one of the great naval battles of the 20th century" (see Hough who devotes an entire chapter to this engagement). The artifact offered here is a part of the damage the "Kent" sustained through German naval fire. The mount meas. 18 inches by 82 inches; appx. 45lbs.

$1500

Patent Design Model - Snyder, A:
Fireplace, Richmond, 1869, The model is approx. 9" sq. soldered tinplate. Unique.
It isl in very good condition overall with some solder jts. splitting.
The original patent model offered with a xerox description of the patent registration. Snyder was granted patent #99529 on Oct. 5, 1869. He invented an improvement for the home fireplace that consisted of a perforated radiator and basket grate. This permitted complete burning of the fuel (coal), the extraction of ashes, and improved the heating efficiency. The model is a large reproduction of Snyder's fireplace in tinplate. It retains the original patent office model tag and identification.

A Dolland brass Pantograph, ca. 1830. A beautiful example of lacquered brass constructed by the firm of Dollond in London. It is accompanied by its original fitted mahogany case. In excellent working condition with a very good surface suffering only minor occasional corrosion marks. The Pantograph was a device used for the scaled reduction and enlargement of drawings. It was invented in the early 17th century. It was steadily improved and adapted by generations of instrument makers. The design offered here consists of four brass bars that are joined in pairs; one pair (26 inches long) twice the length of the other. Beneath the joints and ends are castors of ivory - all original. One long bar has a tracing point (a set screw to secure it may have been required but is not present) while one of the short arms has a pen that is held on sliding head that could be set to the required ratio. The second long bar has the pivot point that is fixed by a large weight (with a later paper covering). See Turner, Nineteenth Century …., p. 280 illustrating this Dollond instrument; see Daumas, pp. 239 - '40 for a biographical sketch of this important firm of instrument makers.

$1800